The new mission of high school:
Launch pad to college and career success  

It hasn’t been the case for a generation that a high school diploma is a ticket to success; in fact, the difference in earning power between a high school graduate and someone who’s finished 8th grade has shrunk to nil.  And students know the old mission of high school is outdated: in a recent poll conducted by Deloitte, students said overwhelmingly (and at a rate higher than their parents or teachers) that the main mission of high school is preparation for college.

College Summit is working to shift the purpose of high school beyond graduation to postsecondary and career success. You can read more about how this purpose and how policy can impact it in the New York Times op-ed coauthored by J.B. Schramm, founder and CEO of College Summit.

Data can be a reward and tool to help more students go to college

We wouldn’t ask air traffic controllers to land planes with radars that shut down at 10,000 feet.  We wouldn’t let surgeons operate who were just guessing at whether their previous patients had recovered or survived.  And yet we are asking high school principals to deliver students who can succeed in college, without ensuring they have the tools to know whether what they’re doing is working.  We say that success in college is a top national priority, but we ask its stewards to fly blind.

To address this challange, College Summit released two white papers with ideas and best practices from our fifteen years working with schools across the country:

“The Promise of Proficiency: How College Proficiency Information Can Help High Schools Drive Student Success”

“High Schools as Launchpads”

Change happens with support from college educated adults students see most:  Teachers and Counselors

College Summit sees educators as critical to shifting a high school’s college-going culture. Professional development and regular coaching and support are cirtical parts of educators having the tools and training needed.

Our Director of Educational Implementation, Brett Helm, created a video story about College Summit’s Educator Academy Curriculum workshop to show how College Summit engages its partner educators in the design and implementation of our programming.

Brett explained, “In highlighting our efforts to integrate the talents of the classroom educators in our programs, I want to increase awareness of our commitment to creating programming and materials directly connected to the real world of the classroom, designed to make a maximum impact on the College Going Culture of each and every school we serve.”

Federal policy can have an impact on college-going culture in high schools

College Summit has been communicating to influential federal policy leaders the importance of including postsecondary outcome measures as a reward in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This would encourage high schools to focus on postsecondary outcomes, rewarding them for gains, but never leading to penalties. The idea has gained traction and popularity among those who are trying to ensure that the new ESEA focuses on preparing students for college and career success.

College Summit guided an influential group of national leaders, including the CEOs of PepsiCo, Google, Deloitte LLP, the Dallas Mavericks, and the President of Princeton University, to   call on the federal government to require states and districts receiving Recovery-Act resources to increase their college enrollment and college proficiency rates.